Still a thrill
- Updated: October 29, 2022
Oxford flag football reaches Elite 8 after beating Lee, Sparkman for second straight region title
By Jason Pahman
Special to East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD – For a coach who already has 13 area/region championships under his belt in baseball you might think there would be a shortage of emotion when his Oxford Lady Jackets flag football team secured its second region championship in as many years.
Quite the contrary. And in many ways it gets him even more excited.
“This means a lot,” Lady Jackets coach Wes Brooks said. “These girls have worked hard all season long. Most of them are involved in other sports and are multi student athletes. And as you can tell, Oxford girls athletics is on the rise, so I believed they could do it today and they did.”
The Lady Jackets reached the Elite 8 by defeating Sparkman 27-0 and Lee 27-12 at Choccolocco Park in a pair of games moved due the inclement weather Tuesday.
They will now face the team that eliminated them in last year’s semifinals, Hewitt-Trussville, next week.
The Lady Jackets knew right away Sparkman came to play when the Lady Senators drove all the way to the 1. The Lady Senators tried a halfback pass, but Oxford senior Sawyer Brooks stepped in front, snatched it and raced 79 yards the other way for a touchdown. It was her second pick-6 of the second, the first coming in the area tournament against Anniston.
That sparked a scoring barrage for Oxford as sophomore quarterback Gabby Lindsey tossed three touchdown passes – two to Reagan White and one to Ashlyn Burns. Lindsey also completed three PAT conversions to Xai Whitfield, White and Burns.
The region title matchup against Lee had Brooks concerned. The Lady Generals were undefeated and had scored 70 points in a game, and Brooks knew his Lady Jackets would have to be in position and tackle well.
Led by leading tacklers White and Burns as well as a multitude of others in multiple substitutions to keep the Lady Generals off balance, the Lady Jackets held Lee to a season-low 12 points.
White would get the first score for Oxford on a 2-yard run and Whitfield scored the point conversion on a pass from Lindsey. On the next possession Lindsey and White connected again, this time on a beautiful pass in the corner of the end zone.
A 50-yard touchdown run by Burns put Oxford up 20-6 at the half. In the second half Burns scored on a run around left end that would make D-I coaches offer on the spot. She also had a big run with just over a minute to go in the game on third-and-20 that saw her do a full extension, ball in front Cam Newton style, to just get the ball over the first down.
The play allowed the Lady Jackets to run the clock out and secure their region title.
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